Dan was born in 1983 and grew up in the Splott area of Cardiff. He started playing cornet at the age of eight under the tutelage of Matthew Thistlewood, and moved onto tuba at the age of eleven whilst attending Glantâf Comprehensive School, during which time he gained a place in the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain at the age of fifteen.

In 2002 he moved to London to study with Patrick Harrild at the Royal Academy of Music and, after graduating in 2006, spent eight years freelancing, playing with many of the country’s leading orchestras as well as performing on record with such pop luminaries as Paul Weller, These New Puritans and The Who. In 2008 Dan became Principal Tuba of the BBC National Orchestra of Wales - a position he held until joining the CBSO in 2025 - and teaches at the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama, Royal Birmingham Conservatoire and the Royal College of Music. More recently, he can be heard on a variety of soundtracks, including the Ark computer game franchise, Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget and Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning.

In his spare time Dan enjoys running, playing cricket and cooking Indian food.